Babish Culinary Universe - The World's Best Pork Chops (Tonkatsu) | Basics with Babish
The video begins with a sponsorship message from Bombas, highlighting their donation program and customer satisfaction guarantee. It then transitions to a detailed cooking tutorial on making tonkatsu, focusing on using thick-cut boneless pork chops. The video explains how to prepare the pork by trimming fat, making shallow cuts to prevent curling, and tenderizing it using various methods. It emphasizes the importance of dry brining the meat to enhance flavor and moisture retention. The breading process involves a three-station setup with flour, egg, and panko breadcrumbs, followed by frying in a blend of lard and peanut oil. The video also covers making a simple cabbage salad as a side dish and suggests using store-bought tonkatsu sauce. Additionally, it explores advanced techniques like making homemade shokupan bread and fresh panko breadcrumbs, marinating pork in buttermilk, and creating a sesame dressing for the cabbage. The video concludes with a recipe for a tonkatsu sandwich with a Nashville hot chicken twist, showcasing the versatility of the dish.
Key Points:
- Bombas donates a pair of socks for every purchase and offers a 20% discount for new customers.
- Trim pork chops to prevent curling and use shallow cuts to maintain fat and flavor.
- Dry brine pork for 45 minutes to 24 hours to enhance flavor and moisture.
- Use a three-station breading process and fry in a lard-peanut oil blend for best results.
- Experiment with homemade bread, fresh panko, and buttermilk marinade for advanced tonkatsu.
Details:
1. 🧦 Discovering Bombus: Comfort and Compassion
1.1. Charitable Impact of Bombus
1.2. Customer Satisfaction and Guarantees
1.3. Promotional Strategies
2. 🍖 Tonkatsu Basics and Cabbage Salad Tips
2.1. Tonkatsu Preparation
2.2. Tonkatsu Cooking Techniques
3. 🍞 Crafting Authentic Japanese Milk Bread
- Begin by preparing the Tang zong paste, which is crucial for maintaining the bread's fluffiness and chewiness. This paste is made by cooking milk and flour together until it forms a thick consistency. It should then be cooled before adding to the dough mixture. This step prevents the bread from becoming dry and enhances its soft texture.
- Use precise measurements to ensure consistency. The Tang zong typically comprises 5% of the total flour weight in the recipe, which significantly contributes to the bread's final texture.
- After preparing the Tang zong, gradually incorporate it with the remaining dough ingredients, ensuring even distribution. This promotes a uniform texture throughout the bread.
- Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, which typically takes about 10-15 minutes by hand or 8-10 minutes using a mixer. Proper kneading is essential for gluten development, giving the bread its structure and characteristic chewiness.
- Allow the dough to rise until it doubles in size, usually about 1-2 hours, depending on room temperature. This initial rise is critical for flavor development and the overall lightness of the bread.
- Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a greased bread pan. Let it rise again until it reaches the top of the pan, ensuring a well-risen loaf with a tender crumb.
- Bake the loaf in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. A well-baked loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, indicating it is thoroughly cooked.
4. 🍞 Fresh Nama Panko: Homemade Breadcrumbs
- Combine 135g of whole milk with flour and microwave in 15-second intervals until a paste forms. This ensures a smooth integration with the dough.
- Prepare the dough by adding 720g of bread flour, 45g sugar, 7.5g instant yeast, 90g heavy cream, and 60g honey. Mix thoroughly using a stand mixer.
- Incorporate 45g of softened butter gradually into the dough to promote gluten development, confirmed by passing the window pane test.
- Proof the dough at room temperature until it doubles in size, which should take about one hour.
- Prepare a Pullman loaf pan by buttering it generously before placing the dough to rise. Aim to fill 80% of the pan's capacity.
- Bake the loaf in a preheated 375°F oven for 45 minutes until it reaches a golden brown color with an internal temperature of 200-210°F.
- Remove the loaf immediately after baking to avoid moisture retention and collapse; let it cool for at least 4 hours before slicing.
- Transition to breadcrumb preparation by slicing the cooled bread, removing crusts, and processing into 1-inch cubes using a food processor.
- This method is a home adaptation and not the traditional panko-making process, emphasizing fresh bread for optimal breadcrumb texture.
5. 🥢 Elevating Tonkatsu: Advanced Techniques
- Frying in fresh breadcrumbs creates an unparalleled crust, inspired by the famous tonkatsu Meen in Tokyo.
- Marinating pork in a mixture of buttermilk, mirin, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce for at least 2 hours and no more than 12 hours results in tender and juicy pork.
- A simple toasted sesame dressing is made by toasting 1/4 cup of sesame seeds, using half to create a paste with 2 tbsp of mayo, 1 tsp of rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp of soy sauce, 1/2 tsp of toasted sesame oil, and 1 tsp of granulated sugar.
- For tonkatsu sauce, combine two parts ketchup to one part each oyster sauce and white sugar.
- Rinse and pat dry marinated pork to minimize moisture before breading, which helps with breading adhesion.
- Use fresh panko for breading, noting that its large crumbs require careful handling to ensure even coating.
- Fry the pork in a mixture of lard and peanut oil for 3 to 5 minutes without needing oven finishing due to the delicate breading.
- Serve the fried pork with miso soup, steamed rice, Japanese pickles, and a dressed cabbage salad.
6. 🥪 Tonkatsu Sando: A Flavorful Fusion
- The tonkatsu pork is described as 'unbelievable,' with a 'shatteringly crisp' crust and 'uncomfortably juicy' meat, highlighting the successful texture and taste achieved.
- Using shokupan bread, toasted only on one side, adds crunch inside while keeping the outside soft, optimizing texture contrast.
- A unique twist involves using togarashi, a Japanese spice mix, instead of traditional cayenne and sugar for a Nashville hot chicken flavor, offering a fusion of spice profiles.
- The spice mixture is combined with hot fat to toast the spices and brushed over the hot pork cutlet, ensuring the pork remains crisp while infusing flavor.
- Both sides of the bread are spread with tonkatsu sauce and topped with chili-dressed cabbage, balancing richness with a fresh, tangy crunch.
7. 🎧 Wrapping Up: Recipe Reflections and Encouragement
- The marinade significantly enhances the flavor, making it an essential part of the recipe.
- Experimenting with different methods is encouraged to personalize the recipe experience.
- Audience feedback is requested to tailor future content to listener preferences.